When I was diagnosed with uterine sarcoma, behind all of the distress about treatment was an overwhelming feeling of disbelief that I was about to become infertile at age 28. But being able to retrieve and freeze my eggs before chemotherapy gave me back a little bit of the control I felt was lacking.
Each year, more than 1,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in Utah are diagnosed with cancer. For many of these young people, a cancer diagnosis is their first real medical issue. This was the case for Marina Pimentel, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, at age 26. Marina worked with an AYA patient navigator to help her manage the complexities of cancer treatment and care.
Remembering to take medication can be a struggle for anyone, but it’s usually a tougher challenge for teens and young adults with cancer. A recent study shows using a smartphone reminder app helps patients in this age group take medication as prescribed.
Just three weeks after their wedding in 2007, newlyweds Dan and Melanie Hedlund were in for some startling news—Dan had osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.
Adolescents and young adults with cancer have unique emotional, physical, and practical needs that aren’t easily met through typical cancer care for children or older adults. For these patients, cancer can interrupt school, work, marriage, parenthood, and more.
Although sarcomas make up a small percentage of adult cancers and about 15 percent of childhood cancers, they are anything but small to the families they affect. The Sarcoma Disease-Oriented Research Team at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), led by R. Lor Randall, MD, and Jeffrey T. Yap, PhD, is dedicated to finding better treatments and a cure for these cancers of the body’s connective tissues, bone, and muscles.
If you're an adolescent or young adult (AYA) with cancer, it's easy to feel alone. While the number of AYAs with cancer in the United States is not small—70,000 are diagnosed each year—it can feel like you're the only one your age going through this. As the patient navigator for the HI-AYA Cancer Care Program, I recently attended CancerCon, a conference that talks about the challenges of having cancer as an AYA and provides a space for people get to know each other.
The Huntsman-Intermountain Adolescent and Young Adult (HI-AYA) program is recruiting members for its Patient and Family Board. The board supports the mission of the HI-AYA Cancer Care Program by advising the program team and advocating for patient and survivor needs. AYAs are people diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39.